Wednesday, February 12, 2014

The Call of Cthulhu by, H.P. Lovecraft

This is an enjoyable read.  The opportunity to read it recently presented itself so I jumped at the chance.  The scientific nature of this tale adds to the thrill of this short tale.  The unknown, hidden scientific studies and journals of a dead man contribute to the undertow of anxiety and fear present throughout this tale.  H.P. Lovecraft really is a master of horror.  The shared dreams or a shared conscience of the horror that was occurring is chilling to think about.  Having your body possessed by a feverish insanity that causes you to create art, or spew out madness is terrifying in any time period.  There are a few things in this tale that bothered me, I am sure that it is wholly due to the fact that it was written in 1926 and I am reading it in 2014.  It bothered me that people with 'mixed blood', Haitians and African Americans were depicted as devil worshipers or people who practiced the dark arts.  I can understand that horror plays on fears and the unknown so it is relevant for the time period it was written in, but that doesn't stop from making it offensive to me today.  So overall I really liked the tale, it would be interesting to read a modern take on this story, minus the racism that was present in the 1920's. 

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